


Failing

by Karkiitiie



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Multi, Please Don't Kill Me, Possibly Unrequited Love, additional tags will be added later, also implied ships, also the university has the most generic name because I'm uncreative, i might need to change them slightly for this au, the ages may or may not follow canon, this is probably gonna be a hella slow burn, yup it's a college au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-02 18:57:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8679523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karkiitiie/pseuds/Karkiitiie
Summary: Jesse and Hanzo are roommates, students, and tutors at Overwatch University. College has been great and they've gone through the years mainly relying on each other. But what happens when one of them suddenly realizes they're in love with the other?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, OU stands for Overwatch University and this fic is something that may end up being a bit self indulgent. Additional characters and tags to come along, just putting some basic stuff for now.

“Hey Hanzo, think you could help me later tonight with my chemistry homework?” Jesse asked through a mouthful of sandwich.

“Of course, but you know at this point I don’t see why you keep asking,” Hanzo replied.

“Yeah I know but I don’t wanna seem rude. How do I know you don’t have plans or somethi-” Jesse started but stopped when Hanzo gave him a look that just shouted _seriously?_ “Okay never mind, I see your point.”

Hanzo turned his attention back to his lunch and Jesse sighed. He wasn’t used to the fact that despite sharing a room with Hanzo for the third year in a row, he still couldn’t read him or know what he was up to when he wasn’t with Jesse. He could remember when they had first met, Jesse was chosen to room with Hanzo sophomore year of college because he was a transfer student from Hanamura, Japan. Jesse tried being friendly, but the other ignored him and scolded him for being a fool and a mess even after Jesse tried explaining it was hard to be a full-time student, part-time tutor, and try to keep your life in order all at the same time. Hanzo only scoffed saying he too was going to be a full-time student and part-time tutor, but even he could at least be tidy. From then on, their interactions had been nonexistent unless Hanzo needed to know where to find a classroom, and even that was rare. It wasn’t until halfway through the semester that the two finally spoke to each other. Jesse was coming home from class to find an enraged Hanzo throwing his textbook to the ground.

_“Hey, what’s the problem?” Jesse asked._

_“None of your business, fool!” Hanzo shouted._

_“I believe it is. This is_ our _room and I don’t need you raging and end up possibly breaking something,” Jesse retorted._

_Hanzo simply stared at him with a mix of anger and distaste, as if asking for help from Jesse would bring him dishonor. They stood on silence for what seemed like an eternity until Hanzo finally spoke._

_“I am currently failing my US history class and if I do not pass the third exam there’s a chance I may be dropped from the class,” Hanzo admitted, crossing his arms, head hung in shame._

_“Well shit, why didn’t ya say something sooner?!” Jesse exclaimed. “I’m killer at history! It’s even one of the subjects I tutor and it’s also my major! Well, I’m gonna be a history teacher, but that’s beside the point. I’ll help ya study if ya let me.”_

From then on, Jesse would tutor Hanzo in history and even occasionally help him in his English courses, after all it could be confusing when it’s not your first language and papers demand so much perfection. Hanzo in turn tutored Jesse in calculus and occasionally in the sciences. Their new routine led to them talking more, but Jesse wasn’t sure if Hanzo would even say they were friends. Few people at the college wanted to be associated with the history nerd with a love for cowboys. He was thankful Angela had also chosen OU or else he wouldn’t have _anyone_ to talk to. It wasn’t until dorm sign-ups for junior year that he finally got an answer when Hanzo suggested they room together again. Jesse couldn’t believe it and was overjoyed he _finally_ made a new friend. As the years went on, they grew closer and closer, and when students needed tutoring it was hard to find either of them without the other, which helped when someone needed tutoring for all their main subjects. Yes, college was going great and filled with plenty of fun sprinkled in with the work, but some problems surfaced as well, the main one being-

“Jesse!” Hanzo called.

“What?” Jesse stammered as he was startled out of his reminiscing.

“You almost dropped your sandwich. Is everything all right? You seemed very lost in thought.”

“Yeah, everythin’s fine.”

“May I ask what could have possibly had you so deep in thought?”

“Uh, nothing important really. Just daydreaming, kinda.”

“Hm, very well. Anyways, we should finish eating soon, class begins in a few minutes.”

“Ah, right, well I think I’m good. I finished most of my food, so ready when you are.”

The two cleaned up, threw away their trash, and began making their way to class. Jesse couldn’t believe he almost made an idiot of himself with his reminiscing, it seemed to be happening more frequently whenever he and Hanzo were alone together. Maybe it was just his mind’s crazy way of distracting him from the true problem of being in love with his best friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I feel like Hanzo would occasionally slip into speaking Japanese every now and again (especially with Genji but he'll show up later). As a result, if you ever seen any of Hanzo's/Genji's lines surrounded by these "< >" it basically means he's speaking Japanese and since there's few good translators on the internet and I don't want to confuse you guys, I'll just write it this way. Sorry if that's weird!

“Did you finish the problem?” Hanzo asked.

“Just give me a sec, need to divide this final part of the equation,” Jesse replied. He clicked away at the buttons on his calculator and scribbled down his answer. “M’kay I’m done!”

“What did you get for your answer?”

“I got 22 moles of Oxygen.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Aw yeah, score one for Jesse!” Jesse said fist bumping the air.

“I believe that is enough studying for now. It seems you’ve gotten the hang of converting units and using ratios,” Hanzo complimented, a smirk crossing his face.

“And it only took me 11 tries,” Jesse sighed, plopping his head onto the desk. “Why the fuck does chemistry have to be so difficult?”

“Well perhaps if you had taken it your freshman year you wouldn’t be dealing with it now,” Hanzo remarked.

“That’s the thing, I _did_ take it freshman year, but I _failed it._ I didn’t have anyone to ask questions to or help me study.”

“But I thought you and Angela were close? Couldn’t you have asked her?”

“We are, but I didn’t wanna bug her. I already did enough of that in high school and didn’t want to continue the tradition into college.”

“You could’ve gone to tutoring and their help sessions,” Hanzo said as he stood, going over to his bed.

“I couldn’t muster up the courage…” Jesse replied.

“How so?”

“I just, ugh, it’s this stupid pride thing I’ve got going on? I feel like that by asking questions I seem like an idiot or something…”

“There’s nothing wrong in asking for help.”

“Look who’s talking King of Stubbornness,” Jesse digressed. “It took you two failed exams before you finally asked me for help.”

“<Stop>, I know I was stubborn,” Hanzo blurted, grabbing, and throwing a pillow at Jesse’s face, making him grunt. “No need to remind me! But more importantly, I don’t see how asking questions and getting help would portray you as an idiot. We all have our limits on what we can understand.”

“I don’t know. Again, it’s just a weird way my thoughts work and keep me from getting help. Maybe it’s even anxiety. Whatever, I feel like I’ve gotten better at asking for help.”

“Even the smallest change can have the greatest impact. And I agree, you have improved. It’s absolutely better than when you would just sit in silence looking extremely confused.”

“I’m awkward okay? Thought’cha would’ve figured that out by now considering how long we’ve lived together.”

Hanzo simply huffed and laid down sideways in bed, elbow propping him up so he could continue talking to Jesse. Their conversation switched to plans for the weekend and so they made a list of activities they could do. The list ranged from going to a party to simply staying in and binge watching a show or movies. Jesse loved this small routine they had fallen into over the years of rewarding their hard work through the week with a fun weekend, after finishing homework of course. Sure, there were weekends where they couldn’t hang out together, but for the most part they did. Jesse’s mind began to wonder what his weekends would be like after they graduated. _What if Hanzo wants to go back to Japan?_ Jesse thought. _Would we even be able to keep in touch with the time zone difference? Would he ever want to come back to the US? Better yet, what if there was a way to make him_ stay? _Nah, that’d be stupid, he-_

“Jesse?” Hanzo’s voice broke through Jesse’s fog of thoughts.

“Wha-?”

“You spaced out again, we were discussing our weekend plans,” Hanzo said. “Are you absolutely sure you’re fine? That’s the third time that’s happened, well, as far as I know. First at lunch, then at dinner, and now.”

“Heh, sorry Hanzo, didn’t mean to freak you out. I-I just have a lot on my mind right now,” Jesse stammered.

“It might also be because you’re not getting enough sleep. Don’t think I don’t know about you staying up until two in the morning playing video games.”

“I was so close to leveling up I just couldn’t leave it like that!”

“Yes, well, maybe you shouldn’t do that next time. You need your rest just like everyone else,” Hanzo remarked and glanced at the clock reading 11:23pm. “Speaking of which, it’s late and you have an exam tomorrow.”

“I’ll get a quick shower and then head to bed,” Jesse said, standing, stretching, and making his way to the closet for his shower items. Hanzo seemed to be watching his every movement. “Uh, any reason you keep staring at me?”

“I’m making sure you’re not tempted to stop and play your video game instead of getting ready to shower,” Hanzo chided.

“Oh, my god I’m not gonna play it! I do have _some_ self-control!” Jesse said defensively.

Hanzo burst into a fit of laughter and Jesse couldn’t help but smile as well. _Jeez his smile is contagious_ , Jesse thought. _He’s cute when he laughs…_ He could feel his cheeks warm and he turned away in time as Hanzo calmed down from his laughing fit. Jesse quickly gathered whatever else he needed and headed out the door. He made his way into the bathroom and turned the water to the coldest temperature he could handle. Maybe it would help get rid of this insane blush that spread itself across his cheeks like wildfire.

The cool shower definitely did the trick to reset his mind and assisted him in calming down. _Jesus Christ, why am I such a fucking mess??_ Jesse scolded himself. He finished rinsing himself off, turned the water off, and grabbed his towel. He leaned over the sink and simply stared at his reflection looking over his features. The scruff on his chin of a barely forming beard, fresh dark circles under his eyes formed from all-nighters and too many games, a mop of wet, brown hair he should’ve cut but he liked how it looked, and a body that was the result of bad eating habits and occasional exercise. _C’mon Jesse, why the hell would Hanzo even want you? You’re immature, too scruffy and lazy lookin’, you’re missing an arm, have horrible eating and sleeping habits, can’t do calculations if your life depended on it, and god knows what else…_ He sighed, running his hands through his hair and over his face. He finished putting on his pajamas, gathered his belongings, and looked for his key to the room.

“Aw fuck,” Jesse groaned. “I left it on my desk. Great, Hanzo’s gonna kill me for waking him up to let me in.”

Jesse grudgingly made his way back to the room and knocked on the door. Hanzo slowly opened the door and what Jesse was expecting to be a look of annoyance was instead a smirk. Jesse was about to apologize when his face was once again greeted by Hanzo’s pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also yes Jesse is missing his left arm and has a prosthetic (just as in canon), how he lost it in this AU will more than likely be explained later. Also kinda got self indulgent with Jesse cuz I have horrible tendencies to not ask for help and suck at taking care of myself.. (^-^")


End file.
